This invention relates to a casing capable of protruding a cosmetic material such as lipstick contained in the casing.
Conventionally, an ordinary casing capable of putting out a cosmetic material such as lipstick contained therein has a structure wherein a stick of rouge is protruded from the body of the casing by a certain kind of protruding operation, e.g., rotation of a member on the casing body. It is convenient to design such an article so that the cap is automatically opened and closed in a linked relatioship with the protruding operation in order to eliminate the need for a separate operation of removing the cap.
In consideration of this point, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a stick-type cosmetic material casing which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-88914 and has a structure such as that shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.
This casing is constructed as described below. A lid 242 is attached to the upper end of a screw tube 214. The screw tube 214 has an inner helical groove 215 formed in its inner peripheral surface and an engaging projection 238 formed on the inner peripheral surface of its lower portion. A tubular body 201 is fitted in the screw tube 214. The tubular body 201 has an elongated aperture 202 extending in the axial direction and an outer helical groove 221 formed in the outer peripheral surface of its lower portion. The engaging projection 238 of the screw tube 214 is fitted in the outer helical groove 221. A closed inner tube 209 is fitted in the tubular body 201 while an engaging projection 210 formed on the inner tube 209 is fitted in the inner helical groove 215 of the screw tube 214 through the elongated aperture 202 of the tubular body 201. A tail tube 220 is fitted on and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the tubular body 201.
As the tubular body 201 is rotated by an operation of turning the tail tube 220 while supporting the screw tube 214, the screw tube 214 is moved downward by the cooperation of the outer helical groove 221 and the engaging projection 238 and the inner surface of the lid 242 is brought into contact with the upper end of the tubular body 201 whereby the lid 242 is turned and opened, as shown in FIG. 12. At the same time, the inner tube 209 is moved upward by the cooperation of the inner helical groove 215 and the engaging projection 210, thereby causing a lipstick 265 to project from the casing.
This conventional cosmetic material casing is useful because the rotary operation of the tubular body 201 moves both the lipstick 265 and the lid 242 so that the lipstick 265 projects from the casing as the lid 242 is opened.
However, in this type of casing, a hinge 242a which is provided at the top edge of the screw tube 214 and to which the lid 242 is attached must be positioned in such a manner that it protrudes outwardly beyond the top edge of the screw tube 214 in order to ensure that it does not obstruct the movement of the tubular body 201 and the inner tube 209. In addition to this protruberant structure of the hinge 242a, the tail tube 203 also creates a protrusion in relation to the overall shape of the casing. Thus, there is a problem of the appearance or the form of the casing being deteriorated contrary to the requirements for this kinds of cosmetic casing.
In the structure whereby the tail tube 220 is attached to the rear end of the screw tube 214, the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of these members repeatedly slide in contact with each other, and the appearance of the casing will be impaired by scratches formed by this sliding on the outer peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the screw tube 214.
In addition, since the outer helical groove 221 and the engaging projection 238 which cooperate to retract the screw tube 214 are provided in a lower portion of the tubular body 201 while the inner tube 209 is disposed above the outer helical groove 221, a large cavity formed below the inner tube 209 when the lipstick 365 is retracted, as shown in FIG. 11, resulting in an increase in the overall length of the casing.